The full extent of the CIA's extraordinary rendition programme
has been laid bare with the publication of a report showing there
is evidence that more than a quarter of the world's governments
covertly offered support.

A
213-page report compiled by the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), a New
York-based human rights organisation, says that at least 54
countries co-operated with the global kidnap, detention and
torture operation that was mounted after 9/11, many of them in
Europe.

So widespread and extensive was the participation of governments
across the world that it is now clear the CIA could not have
operated its programme without their support, according to the
OSJI.

"There is no doubt that high-ranking Bush administration
officials bear responsibility for authorising human rights
violations associated with secret detention and extraordinary
rendition, and the impunity that they have enjoyed to date
remains a matter of significant concern," the report says.

"But responsibility for these violations does not end with the
United States. Secret detention and extraordinary rendition
operations, designed to be conducted outside the United States
under cover of secrecy, could not have been implemented without
the active participation of foreign governments. These
governments too must be held accountable."

The states identified by the OSJI include those such as Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Egypt and Jordan where the existence of secret
prisons and the use of torture has been well documented for many
years. But the OSJI's rendition list also includes states such as
Ireland, Iceland and Cyprus, which are accused of granting covert
support for the programme by permitting the use of airspace and
airports by aircraft involved in rendition flights.

Iran and Syria – two-thirds of George W Bush's so-called axis of
evil – are identified by the OSJI as having participated in
the rendition programme. Syria is said to have been one of the
"most common destinations for rendered suspects", while Iran is
said to have participated in the CIA's programme by handing over
15 individuals to Kabul shortly after the US invasion of
Afghanistan, in the full knowledge that they would fall under US
control.

Other countries are conspicuous by their absence from the
rendition list: Sweden and Finland are present, but there is no
evidence of Norwegian involvement. Similarly, while many Middle
Eastern countries did become involved in the rendition programme,
Israel did not, according to the OSJI research.

Many of the countries on the list are European. Germany, Spain, Portugal and Austria are among them, but
France, the Netherlands and Hungary are not. Georgia stands
accused of involvement in rendition, but Russia does not.

Some countries, such as Poland, Lithuania and Romania, hosted
secret prisons on their territory.

The OSJI reports that the UK supported CIA rendition operations,
interrogated people being secretly detained, allowed the use of
British airports and airspace, arranged for one man, Sami
al-Saadi, to be rendered to Libya with his entire family, where he was subsequently
tortured, and provided intelligence that allowed a second similar
operation to take place.

Publication of the report appears to have been timed to coincide
with the confirmation hearing on Thursday of John Brennan, Barack Obama's choice to head the CIA.
Brennan is widely expected to be questioned about his association
with the so-called enhanced interrogation policies adopted by
Bush.

The OSJI report, titled Globalising Torture, says the full scope
of non-US government involvement may still remain unknown.

"Despite the efforts of the United States and its partner
governments to withhold the truth about past and ongoing abuses,
information relating to these abuses will continue to find its
way into the public domain," the report says.

"At the same time, while US courts have closed their doors to
victims of secret detention and extraordinary rendition
operations, legal challenges to foreign government participation
in these operations are being heard in courts around the world."

The OSJI is calling on the US government to repudiate the
rendition programme, close all its remaining secret prisons,
mount a criminal investigation into human rights abuses –
including those apparently endorsed by government lawyers – and
create an independent and non-partisan commission to investigate
and publicly report on the role that officials played in such
abuses.

The organisation is also calling on non-US governments to end
their involvement in rendition operations, mount effective
investigations – including criminal investigations – to hold
those responsible to account, and institute safeguards to ensure
that future counter-terrorism operations do not violate human
rights standards.